The Chronicles of the Countryside

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You know how on some days, you get up and start your day, but after a very short time, wish you hadn’t bothered. Well it seems that this situation is not the sole preserve of human beings. Pedro, my big male lllama is grumpy at the best of times and with his wall eyed appearance looks grumpy all of the time, putting the fear of god, or maybe of llamas, into the majority of people who cross his path. Well today was worse than most. Yesterday, I moved his group, consisting of 10 male alpacas, 3 pygmy goats, himself and Pablo( his boy child) into a new field. They have 10 acres of good grass and love the fact that they can roam majestically across the pasture to their heart’s content. However, Pedro does not like to be disturbed in his majestic roaming. It started badly when I got him up too early. We are having some fencing done by a local farmer, who came to see exactly what we wanted doing. Pedro saw his opportunity to frighten the living whatsits out of the farmer by galloping across the field to greet him, ears back, mouth already filling with vile grudge. Much to his disgust John stood his ground. Pedro screeched to a halt in front of this hero of a man, looked him up and down: ears back, ears forward, ears back, his cheeks bulging, ready to let rip if this damned intruder took one more step onto his territory. John turned his back on him and walked away!! The cheeks emptied, the ears assumed their forward, relaxed position – deflated!!!! He turned and walked away. I found him sitting in a corner sulking. Tomorrow is another day Pedro, better luck next time!

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I often find myself laughing quietly as I go about my daily life in the hills of North Wales. I am convinced that my kids have given up on me, resigned to seeing me dash about the fields after my alpacas and llamas, tackling an ornery goat to the floor, or stalking about the garden with a fishing net, determined to catch a peacock with a limp, who suddenly loses his disability as he sees me crouching behind a tree.
Today I had to go to my Dad’s place where I keep our two thirty year old Shetland ponies, Percy and Ben. After an exasperating morning yesterday trying halter Ben in order to put some cream on a sore patch on his tummy, I gave up as a bad job and decided that the only way to get him to comply with my wishes was to leave feeding him until his stomach forced him to come to me. I was successful today. Percy and Ben were bought when the kids were very small and have survived long cold winters and to be honest are as fit as fiddles for their age. The only problem is that they are also very aware of my tactics to get them to do what they damned well don’t want to!!! Their paddock is next to the road leading through Llanelidan. I am ashamed to admit that there is often a patch of blue air over the paddock as I lock wills with these two diminutive equines.
On my way back home from Dad’s with a look of smug satisfaction on my face, I laughed outloud at a grey squirrel running along the road with a face full of hazelnuts. He was going at such a pace that he didn’t see a pheasant poult on the road and ran straight into him!! It was just like something from the Road Runner cartoons.
Today I will mostly be painting gates and beginning to get ready for the winter, which can really take a heavy toll here. I would like to share my days with you in this blog. Perhaps you can laugh along with me.